The sinner unto whom God reckons "righteousness" is said to be "justified." This, as Paul has shown (Rom. 3:22-24) God does "freely," without charge or compensation, for those who have faith in Jesus Christ. This is the "righteousness which is from God by faith in Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:9) and which is equivalent here to "justification by faith." This is the peculiar revelation of the gospel, because of which it is "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." (Rom. 1:16, 17.)

      Having declared and defined that "righteousness of God" in Rom. 3 (vs. 21ff) Paul now proceeds to illustrate and discuss it further. The case he uses for illustration is that of Abraham. What a great name that was to the Jew! How wonderful was Abraham's relation to God, as "the friend of God," with whom He walked, with whom He talked, to whom He made the promises! Was Abraham then, himself, also a sinner that needed to be "justified freely"? Or did he have his standing with God in his own right, by virtue of his own character and good works? If that had been the case Abraham would have had something to boast of. But not so, says the apostle: not before God. For what saith the scripture? "Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness." (Gen. 15:6.) Now this could not have been said of Abraham if he had been justified by the merit of his works. For "to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness." If we were to paraphrase this statement it would run something like this: "Now to the man who seeks to attain to righteousness by his own works, his reward, if he should succeed in this endeavor, would not be reckoned to him as of grace; but it would be a matter of debt--a just due. But the man who does not attempt anything like that, but simply believes in God who has promised to freely justify the sinful, his faith is reckoned to him for righteousness." Such therefore was the case of Abraham. He stood not in the merit of his own works and character, but by his faith. He, too, then, was but a sinner saved by grace. He came in for the blessedness of those to whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from any consideration of works; of whom David says:

      In the next verse (v. 9) Paul shows from the case of Abraham that this justification is not for the circumcised only (as the Jews would have liked to think) but for the uncircumcised, who had never known the law, as well. The proof is simple. At the time when Abraham's faith was reckoned to him for righteousness, he was [18] as yet uncircumcised. That settles the question whether the uncircumcised can receive this free righteousness. It was not till about fourteen years after this that Abraham was circumcised. Circumcision was the seal--the token--of the righteousness of the faith which he had while yet in uncircumcision. And Abraham, justified while uncircumcised, and later circumcised, is set forth as the living proof that justification ("righteousness") is for the uncircumcised; and for the circumcised also, provided they walk in the steps of that faith of Abraham which he had while as yet uncircumcised.

      One thing is clear in this argument: it is not circumcision but faith that avails. Circumcision has nothing to do with justification. The uncircumcised are justified by faith; and the circumcised can be justified only in the same way. In this matter circumcision is of no avail to them whatever. They must abandon their trust in their circumcision, their law, every special privilege, and every excellence of which they might boast (compare Phil. 3:5-9), and come empty-handed to that same faith by which Gentiles are justified. What a blow to Jewish pride! And with circumcision the law also goes down as a ground of hope, though on the law the Jew rested his claim and in it he gloried (Rom. 2:17, 23). This he shows in vs. 13-15, and again by the example of Abraham: "For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith." This is evident, for the law came not till "430 years after." (Gal. 3:17). And if (as the Jew thought) "they that are of the law are heirs"--then "faith" would have been void ("for the law is not of faith," Gal. 3:12) and the "promise" would have been made of none effect (Gal. 3:18). For the "promise" was a free promise, and required only simple faith on part of the recipient. The law, on the other hand, instead of procuring any promises for them, brought condemnation upon them: "for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law neither is there transgression."

      In the preceding verses (9-15) the discussion has been directed more against the Jew who thought that his circumcision and law-observance entitled him, and him alone, to this salvation. But from here to the end of the chapter (vs. 16:25) the teaching is for all. We will present it in outline, verse by verse.

      Verse 16. God designed that the promise should he of faith that it may be according to grace. What is of faith is also of grace (comp. 4:4, 5)--therefore perfectly free, affording no ground for boasting; for faith is not anything meritorious in itself, so that in reward for it God would give salvation. Faith is but the empty hand held out to receive the great gift. By in making it dependent on faith, the promise was made available to all of Abraham's seed (i. e. those who have faith like his, Gal. 3:7) whether they be of the law and of circumcision or without law or circumcision (comp. vs. 11, 12). For Abraham is the father (the head and proto-type) of all those who believe even as he believed.

      Verse 17. This is in accord with the word spoken to him by God--"a father of many nations have I made thee." Abraham, old [19] and childless, believed God--he believed God was able to give life to the dead (for he was as good as dead); and as able to speak of things as yet non-existent as though they already were (for God said "a father of many nations have I made thee"). With other words, he believed that his God was able to do what was, humanly speaking, impossible.

      Verse 18. Thus in hope (a hope kindled by faith in God's word) he believed against hope (against all natural hope and possibility).

      Verse 19. He was not unaware of the difficulty (or, should we say, the impossibility) that stood in the way of God's promise. He did not try to conceal or minimize the facts: he faced them squarely--namely the deadness of his own body and of Sarah's womb, who even in the days of her youth and strength was barren.

      Verse 20. But he did not stop with looking at the obstacles: but looking to the promise of God he never wavered in his faith, but "waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God."

      Verse 21. This verse describes his faith in simplest words: he was "fully assured that what God had promised, he was able also to perform." It was not something he imagined God could or would do, but what God had promised. For faith ever rests on the declarations of God's word. (Rom. 10:17.) To have believed such things without warrant from God's word would not have been faith, but presumption and fanaticism; of which there has always been a superabundance in the world. But Abraham's faith was founded on God's word.

      Verse 22. Further than this faith could not go. He believed God utterly and absolutely, all regardless of all reasons and appearances to the contrary. To such surrendered heart and mind God can give His best and all. "Wherefore it was reckoned unto him for righteousness."

      Verses 23-25. The conclusion: This was not written as merely applying to Abraham: it applies to us. We too are so justified, by the same sort of faith. We too believe in the "God who giveth life to the dead," who does the impossible--even the God who "raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification."

      Our study of Romans 4 brings up the old, oft-discussed question concerning the relation of faith and works, on which Paul and James seem to differ. Paul declares plainly that Abraham was justified by faith apart from works. James just as plainly says that Abraham was "justified by works," and that "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith." (Jas. 2:24.) But a closer look reveals the fact that though James uses the same three words, "faith," "justified," and "works" which Paul uses in Romans, he uses each of them in a sense different from that in which Paul employs them. This is perfectly obvious once attention is called to it.

      1. The works Paul opposes are works of merit by which a sinner would try to win salvation; works which, so to speak, would put [20] God under obligation and debt (Rom. 4:4) and which would enable the doer of them to boast as having wholly, or in part, accomplished his own salvation. But James has in mind works which spring from faith, and which are the test of faith's reality; such works as Paul also himself exalts in Gal. 5:6--"In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love." Martin Luther, though at first inclined to reject the epistle of James because of this seeming discrepancy, said later, "I see that Paul inveighs against works that make faith void, but James pleads for works by which faith is made perfect."

      2. James also uses the term "justified" in a different sense. Paul insists that Abraham was justified long before circumcision was instituted, and before Isaac was born. (Rom. 4:10, 11.) Abraham was already (and had been for years) a justified man in Paul's sense of the word when he offered up Isaac upon the altar. If therefore James says, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?"--it is evident that he employs the word "justified" differently from Paul's meaning. James could not have been ignorant of the fact that Abraham had righteousness reckoned to him (i. e. that he was "justified") as far back as Gen. 15:6. It has been well pointed out that a man is justified: (1) Causally, by grace (Tit. 3:7); (2) effectively by the blood (Rom. 5:9); (3) instrumentally by faith (Rom. 5:1) (4) evidentially by works (Jas. 2:24).

      3. Again, when Paul speaks of faith, he obviously means that trustful committal of one's self to Christ which includes all submission, confession, obedience to the gospel (Gal. 3:26, 27.) But James condemns a mere profession that masquerades as faith, as that of a man who merely says he has faith, or who merely, like the demons, holds the correct and orthodox doctrine that there is one God and whose life bears no evidence of true faith; but whose so-called "faith" is but an empty, worthless, inert mental assent to truth, which is as far from being real faith as a dead horse is from being a horse.

      Paul then is seeking to show that acceptance of God is granted freely to those who believe, apart front merit or works of law; James endeavors to show that real faith must and will manifest itself in works.

      The terms "promise," "faith," and "grace," as Paul uses them (or rather, as the Holy Spirit uses them through Paul) require special attention. They are not always well understood. To illustrate--a man might argue that there was faith and promise and even grace connected with the law. The Jew believed that there is but one God; that the law had been given from Mt. Sinai, that it was from God, and therefore right and true. That could be called "faith" in one sense of the word. Also there were certain blessings held out to those who faithfully kept the law. We might call that "promise." But Paul uses neither "faith" nor "promise" in this sense. According to him the "promise" is a free offer and pledge from God to do something for its which is beyond all power of man and of nature, [21] something God Himself alone can do, and which he freely tells us He will do. And to take hold of this promise, to trust in it, and to proceed upon it as upon a sure pledge--that is faith. To illustrate, when God said to Abraham "So shall thy seed be"--He promised him something impossible so far as man was concerned, a thing that could not be except by God's power and truthfulness. And when Abraham believed God, in spite of all facts and appearances to the contrary (Rom. 4:18-21)--that was the faith that was reckoned to him for righteousness. When later he begat Ishmael--that was done in the power of nature, according to the flesh: Ishmael was not the child of the promise. For this was the promise: "Sarah thy wife shall have a son." The child born of Sarah was according to promise, born not in the power of nature but in the energy of the Divine work through faith. (Gal. 4:23, 28; Rom. 9:8, 9.) Not what man achieves in his own power is of faith and of promise; but what man can never do or attain to, what God graciously offers to do for him, what he believes God is able to do and, according to His word, will do--that is by faith, by grace, by promise. The law was a simple contract: if you do this and that, I, Jehovah, will do thus and so. But the gospel is a free promise to sinful, ruined man. And "the law is not of faith," not because it is now abrogated but because it is of works; for "he that doeth them [i. e. the precepts and ordinances] shall live therein." (Gal. 3:12; comp. Rom. 10:5.) So the promise is a free and supernatural blessing held out to man; and faith is that by which we take hold of it.

      Now faith is a resting and leaning upon God's free assurance of promise. As such it cannot be meritorious. Faith has no ground for boasting, except in God. What we get by faith we therefore get by grace. And what is by grace is always and only a perfectly free gift. (Rom. 4:5, 6.)

      If in the light of these things we re-study Romans 4 now, its meaning will open to us more fully.

      Was Abraham justified by works? If he had been would he have had something to boast of? What statement of scripture shows the contrary? What argument does Paul make in verses 4 and 5? How do David's words illustrate free justification by faith? Was Abraham a circumcised man when he was justified? Did he have the Law? Can people who are uncircumcised and who have not the law be justified? How only can the circumcised be justified? Why did God arrange that justification should be by faith? (v. 16.) How was Abraham's faith described in vs. 17-21? Was this written for us also? On what sort of faith are we justified? What apparent contradiction in James 2 to the teaching of this chapter? Is it really a contradiction? Does James use the words "justify," "faith," and "works" in the same sense as Paul here uses them? What is the difference? Is faith itself a meritorious act? [22]

[LOR2 18-22]